JP2010280849A - Utilization system of plant-based biomass - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a utilization system of plant-based biomass in which plant-based biomass can be pluralistically utilized. <P>SOLUTION: The utilization system of plant-based biomass includes: an extraction means 1 to extract essential oil, a fragrant material, a pigment, or oil and fat by microwave heating using methanol as a solvent from plant-based biomass, which is reduced to splinters and raw, dried, or obtained after oil expression; a separation means 2 to separate the plant-based biomass after extraction from the solvent; a methanol recovery means 3 to distill the separated solvent; a gasification means 4 to decompose the separated plant-based biomass by a catalyst and achieve gasification; and a methanol synthesis means 5 to synthesize methanol from hydrogen and carbon monoxide obtained from the gasification. While reusing the methanol recovered by the methanol recovery means in the extraction means of essential oil, a shortage of methanol is covered by the synthesized methanol. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2011,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a plant biomass utilization system. Specifically, useful substances are extracted from plant-based biomass by microwave heating using methanol as a solvent, and the biomass after extraction is gasified to synthesize methanol from the generated CO and hydrogen. It is related with the utilization system of plant biomass which can utilize plant biomass effectively in multiple ways by using for extraction.

  Biomass currently has no established classification method. Focusing on the origin of its occurrence, for example, municipal waste, food residue, industrial biomass such as sewage sludge, animal biomass such as livestock manure, and cultivation It can be divided into plant biomass such as plants, felled trees and crop residues.

  Among these biomass, plant biomass contains various components, and since there are trace components such as perfume, essential oil, dye, etc. with high added value, extraction of these components from plant biomass, It has been done conventionally. In addition, oil has been conventionally squeezed from plant biomass containing oils such as soybeans, rapeseed, palm coconut, etc. by pressing or the like. However, most of the residue after extracting fragrances and essential oils from plant biomass, or the residue after squeezing oils and fats, is disposed of as waste, and only a part is used for fuel, fertilizer, etc. Absent.

  On the other hand, plant biomass such as felled trees and thinned wood has been used as fuel as firewood or converted into charcoal. In recent years, these plant-based biomass is gasified by pyrolysis, and a combustible gas such as CO or hydrogen is taken out and used as fuel, or CO or hydrogen produced by gasification is used as a catalyst. By using it as a fuel by converting it to methanol and hydrocarbons, a method to use it as an energy source instead of gasoline and natural gas is being studied, and it is expected as an alternative technology for fossil fuels that leads to suppression of carbon dioxide emissions. It is growing.

  However, when fuel is obtained by gasifying plant biomass such as felled trees, thinned timber, or wood chips and chips generated in the lumber industry, it is directly used for pyrolysis gasification as a raw material for gasification. It is not often used for gasification after taking out useful components such as essential oils contained in these plant-based biomass, and it is not intended to make effective use of plant-based biomass in multiple ways. .

  In addition, in soybeans, rapeseed, palm palm, etc., fats and oils that cannot be squeezed even after squeezing or the like remain, but when these plant biomass is gasified to obtain fuel, the remaining fats and oils Is used as a raw material for gasification. There is no more versatile use of plant biomass, in which the remaining oil and fat is further taken out and then gasified.

  By the way, methods for extracting essential oils and fragrances from plant biomass include steam distillation method, pressing method, wiping method, fat adsorption method, digestion method (maseration), cold soaking method (unflurage), percolation method, supercriticality. Various methods such as a carbon dioxide extraction method and a liquefied carbon dioxide extraction method are known. Further, an extraction method using a microwave as a heating source has been proposed as a method for effectively extracting essential oil and the like with a simple apparatus. For example, a method of heating microwaves using ethanol or glycerin as an extraction solvent (see Patent Document 1), or a method of using microwaves as thermal energy when extracting frozen and crushed animal and plant-derived materials (patents) Reference 2), a method of extracting essential oil by supplying water vapor while irradiating the pulverized plant biomass with microwaves (see Patent Document 3) and the like are disclosed. However, these methods disclose a method for extracting essential oil and the like from plant-based biomass, and there is no description regarding a method or system for effectively utilizing the extraction residue as plant-based biomass.

  As an example of extracting essential oil from plant biomass and then using the extracted residue as plant biomass, Patent Document 4 describes that after pulverizing plant biomass, water is used as a solvent and the essential oil is heated by microwave heating. A system has been proposed in which the extracted residue is pyrolyzed by microwave heating and the generated gas is used as fuel or raw material gas. However, in Patent Document 4, there is no specific description of synthesizing methanol from the produced CO or hydrogen by thermally decomposing the residue after extraction, and the synthesized methanol is used for extraction in the system. It does not suggest a system that uses plant biomass.

  Regarding a method for gasifying plant biomass and synthesizing methanol or the like, for example, Patent Document 5 discloses a biomass gasification furnace, a gas purification apparatus, a steam reforming means, and a methanol synthesis apparatus for supplying and gasifying biomass. Etc., a methanol synthesis system from biomass comprising the above is disclosed. In this system, heat generated by partial combustion of biomass and high-temperature steam generated from cooling water used to cool the gas after gasification are used to supply heat necessary for gasification to gasify biomass. In addition to generating CO and hydrogen, hydrocarbons such as methane and tar produced by gasification are reacted with water vapor by means of steam reforming to reform to CO and hydrogen, thereby increasing the amount of methanol produced. It is intended. Furthermore, in this system, the device which comprises the apparatus which comprises a system on a moving trolley | bogie is devised so that it can move.

  Patent Document 6 discloses a liquid fuel production apparatus from biomass composed of a combustion section, a gasification section, a gas purification section, a liquid fuel production section, and the like. By changing the catalyst to be used, methanol, dimethyl ether or hydrocarbon is synthesized in the liquid fuel production department. In the method of Patent Document 6, biomass is heated and gasified by an electric furnace in the gasification section, and unreacted biomass that has not been gasified is taken out and burned in the combustion section. Used as an auxiliary heat source for the gasification section. A tar decomposition catalyst is installed at the bottom of the gasification unit, the tar content in the gas generated by gasification is removed, and the gas generated by gasification is a gas purification unit equipped with an adsorbent such as activated carbon. After the impurities are removed in step 1, it is converted into methanol or the like in the fuel production department. This method is also devised so that the apparatus can be moved by providing a moving carriage below the apparatus.

  However, in patent document 5, there is no special description about the biomass raw material used, and in patent document 6, disposal of unused biomass, thinned wood, woody biomass such as lumber residue, construction waste, sewage sludge, chicken manure, etc. Although it is described that herbaceous biomass such as physical biomass, weeds, and pasture is used as a raw material, these biomasses are used for gasification as they are, and plant biomass such as woody biomass and herbaceous biomass are used. Extracting useful substances such as essential oil and residual oil from biomass, gasifying the plant biomass after extraction and converting it into fuels such as methanol, aiming to effectively use plant biomass in multiple ways is not.

  Moreover, in patent document 7, when synthesize | combining methanol using a catalyst from the obtained hydrogen and carbon monoxide by gasifying plant biomass, such as a plant, a part of hydrogen used as a raw material of methanol synthesis is wind power. A method of making up for hydrogen by a combination of a power generation device and a water electrolysis device is disclosed. However, Patent Document 7 only describes a small-sized methanol production apparatus capable of low-pressure operation using a copper / zinc-based catalyst, and does not effectively use plant-based biomass as a system.

JP 2004-89786 A JP-T 63-502090 JP 2007-098383 A JP 2007-245095 A JP 2001-240878 A JP 2008-189704 A Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2005-13239

  The present invention is to effectively use plant biomass such as cultivated plants, felled trees and agricultural crop residues in a multi-dimensional manner as a system, and extracts essential oil, residual oil and fat, etc. by microwave heating from the plant biomass, A plant biomass utilization system that enables plant biomass to be used in multiple ways by gasifying plant biomass after extraction, synthesizing methanol from the generated gas, and using the synthesized methanol as an extraction solvent The purpose is to provide.

  In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a system having the following configuration.

(1) Extraction means 1 for extracting essential oils, fragrances, pigments or oils and fats from plant biomass pulverized into fine pieces by microwave heating using methanol as a solvent;
Separation means 2 for separating the plant biomass after extraction and the extract,
Methanol recovery means 3 for recovering methanol by distilling the separated extract;
Gasification means 4 for thermally decomposing and gasifying the separated plant biomass;
Methanol synthesis means 5 for synthesizing methanol from hydrogen and carbon monoxide obtained by gasification,
A plant biomass utilization system, wherein the methanol used in the extraction means 1 is covered with methanol obtained in the methanol synthesis means 5.
(2) The plant biomass utilization system according to (1), wherein the plant biomass is plant biomass after squeezing raw or dried plant biomass or fats and oils.
(3) The plant biomass utilization system according to (1) or (2), wherein in the extraction means 1, the extraction temperature is the boiling point of methanol.
(4) The plant biomass utilization system according to any one of (1) to (3), wherein in the separation means 2, the separation means is a filtration device.
(5) The plant biomass utilization system according to any one of (1) to (4), wherein the extraction unit 1 uses the methanol recovered by the methanol recovery unit 3.
(6) The plant biomass utilization system according to any one of (1) to (5), wherein the extracted essential oil, fragrance, pigment, or fat is recovered from the distillation residue of the methanol recovery means 3.
(7) The plant biomass utilization system according to any one of (1) to (6), wherein in the gasification means 4, oxygen or air and water vapor are used as gasifying agents.
(8) The plant biomass utilization system according to any one of (1) to (7), wherein the methanol synthesis means 5 uses a copper oxide-zinc oxide-alumina catalyst as a catalyst.
(9) The plant biomass utilization system according to any one of (1) to (8), further including a gas purification unit 7 and a gas compression unit 8 before the methanol synthesis unit 5.

  According to the plant biomass utilization system of the present invention, it is possible to effectively extract essential oils and residual fats from plant biomass, and CO obtained by gasifying residual biomass after extraction of essential oils and residual fats and oils Methanol can be produced using hydrogen. And since methanol is used as an extraction solvent for essential oils and residual fats and oils, the extraction solvent itself can be produced and covered by the system. That is, the plant biomass utilization system of the present invention is based on plant biomass that can be obtained not only from plant biomass but also from methanol as a fuel or chemical material, as well as useful substances such as essential oils and fats and oils. A practical use system.

  It is necessary to supply a predetermined amount of methanol used for the extraction means at the start of operation of the system, but during the operation of the system, since it is recovered from the extract by distillation and reused, only methanol lost due to volatilization, etc. What is necessary is just to replenish from methanol synthesized in the system.

It is a figure which shows the outline of the utilization system of the plant biomass which concerns on this invention.

  Hereinafter, a preferred embodiment of a plant biomass utilization system according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a schematic system diagram showing a preferred example of utilizing plant biomass according to the present invention. That is, the system of the present invention includes extraction means 1, separation means 2, methanol recovery means 3, gasification means 4, and methanol synthesis means 5 as main means, and before and after these main means, gas cooling means 6 and gas purification means. This is a system constituted by arranging means 7, gas compressing means 8, methanol distillation means 9 and pulverizing means 10.

  The extraction means 1 extracts useful substances such as essential oils, fragrances, pigments or fats and oils contained in the plant biomass according to the type of plant biomass used as a raw material.

  Methanol is used as the extraction solvent and heated by irradiation with microwaves. Specifically, for example, pulverized or cut plant-like biomass is placed in an extraction device, methanol is added to such an extent that the plant-based biomass is immersed, and microwave irradiation is performed. By the microwave irradiation, the added methanol and the water retained by the plant biomass are effectively heated, and useful components such as essential oils and perfumes in the plant biomass and oils and fats remaining after oil extraction are extracted with methanol.

  Since plant-based biomass has different adhering moisture and built-in moisture depending on its type, it can be used freshly or after drying, but before being introduced into the extraction means 1, it is crushed into fine pieces by the crushing means 10. deep. Extraction efficiency increases by making it into a strip shape, and useful substances can be extracted in a short time, so that the useful substances can be prevented from being decomposed by heat or the like. Plant biomass includes plant branches, trunks, leaves, berries, roots, wood, thinned wood, felled trees, pruned branches, sawdust, bark, chips, wood chips, driftwood, bamboo, firewood. Squeeze residue after squeezing soybean oil, rapeseed oil, palm oil, etc. from woody building waste, soybeans, rapeseed, palm coconut and the like.

  In addition, it does not specifically limit as a microwave oscillator used in order to irradiate a microwave with the extraction means 1, Oscillators, such as a magnetron, and an oscillator using a solid element can be used suitably. Moreover, it is desirable that the output of the microwave be in the range of 10 W to 20 kW while being electrically controlled. The microwave frequency is preferably 0.5 to 10 GHz.

  In the extraction means 1 of the present invention, the methanol heated and evaporated by the microwave is condensed by a condenser or the like and refluxed to the extraction means 1.

  After the extraction is completed, the plant biomass and the extract are taken out, and the plant biomass and the extract are separated by the separating means 2.

  As the separation means 2, a filtration device is preferably used. Plant-based biomass that remains as a filtration residue can be washed with methanol. The filtration device used in the separation means 2 is not particularly limited, and an atmospheric pressure filtration device or a pressure filtration device can be appropriately selected according to the size and shape of the plant biomass or the impregnation state of methanol.

  The plant-based biomass separated from the extract by the separation means 2 may be dried by providing a preliminary drying means upstream of the gasification means 4. In the present invention, when pre-drying is performed, high-temperature water vapor generated by the cooling means 6 described later can be used as the heat source.

  However, in the present invention, the water contained in the plant biomass has shifted to the extract, and the water contained in the separated plant biomass is greatly reduced. Therefore, in the next gasification means 4, there is little fear that the temperature rise of the plant biomass due to heating will be hindered, and the separated plant biomass can be introduced as it is into the gasification means 4 without undergoing preliminary drying. There are advantages.

  On the other hand, the extract liquid separated by the separation means 2 contains methanol as an extraction solvent, extracted essential oils, fats and oils, and water. The extract is introduced into the methanol recovery means 3 and methanol is recovered by distillation. Since methanol has a boiling point of about 65 ° C., there is no fear that essential oils and fats extracted during distillation will be decomposed. And since methanol does not azeotrope with water, only methanol can be collect | recovered and the water | moisture content in biomass remains as a distillation residue. The methanol recovered by the methanol recovery means 3 is reused as the extraction solvent in the extraction means 1.

  The distillation residue (bottom) after the methanol is recovered by distillation in the methanol recovery means 3 is transferred to a static separation tank and statically separated. This distillation residue contains essential oils, fats and oils, and water. By standing and separating, extracts such as essential oils and fats are separated in the upper layer and water is separated in the lower layer. Water may be added to improve the properties. Then, essential oil, fats and oils are taken out from an upper layer, and the essential oils and fats after taking out can be refined according to a conventional method to make a product. The lower layer water may be treated as waste water.

  The plant biomass separated by the separation means 2 is gasified by the gasification means 4. As the gasification furnace used for the gasification means, any of a fixed bed method, a fluidized bed method, and a jet gas method can be used, but a fixed bed method that does not require pulverization of raw material biomass is preferable.

  Gasification is performed by a known method. For example, when using the fixed bed method, plant biomass after extracting essential oils and fats and oils is filled into the furnace, gasifying agent is supplied from the furnace bottom, ignited and burned to generate hot gas, and biomass Is pyrolyzed and gasified. As the gasifying agent, oxygen or air and water vapor are used.

In the present invention, as the water vapor used as the gasifying agent, high temperature water vapor generated by the cooling means 6 can be used as in the case of the preliminary drying means. This high-temperature water vapor is used as an auxiliary heat source for heating the hot gas when the plant biomass is gasified by the gasification means 4, and reacts with CO in the gas generated by the thermal decomposition to generate CO ₂ Used in shift reactions to generate hydrogen. The shift reaction is well known in biomass gasification and is performed to increase the molar ratio of hydrogen to CO and increase the yield of methanol synthesis.

  As gasification of plant biomass progresses, heavy hydrocarbons condense to produce carbon materials such as soot and tar. These soot, tar, and the like also react with water vapor in the gasifying agent to generate a gas such as CO or hydrogen. This reaction is known as a water gasification reaction, but since this reaction is relatively slow, carbonaceous materials such as soot and tar do not completely react and disappear in the gasification of plant biomass. Usually, it remains in the gasifier as a residue.

  In addition, plant-based biomass contains intracellular substances such as proteins and nucleic acids containing heteroelements such as nitrogen and sulfur, and nitrogen oxides and sulfur oxides are generated from these substances by gasification of plant-based biomass. Generate.

  A high-temperature gas generated by gasification (hereinafter referred to as generated gas) is cooled by the cooling means 6. The cooling water used at the time of cooling is discharged as high-temperature steam by heat exchange with the product gas. As described above, the high-temperature steam can be effectively used in the system of the present invention by being supplied to the gasification means 4.

  Impurities are removed from the cooled product gas by the gas purification means 7. Impurities contained in the product gas include the above-mentioned nitrogen oxides and sulfur oxides in addition to carbon materials such as soot and tar that are discharged accompanying the product gas.

  As a purification method of the product gas by the gas purification means 7, a known method can be used. For example, it can be performed by a wet method in which the product gas is introduced into water to remove impurities, a method of collecting dust using a cyclone, a dry method of removing using an adsorbent such as activated carbon, or the like.

  The purified product gas is pressurized to about 5 to 10 MPa by the gas compression means 8 and then introduced into the methanol synthesis means 5.

  In the methanol synthesis means 5, methanol is synthesized by a known method. That is, the reaction is performed at 230 to 270 ° C. and 5 to 10 MPa using copper oxide-zinc oxide-alumina or copper oxide-zinc oxide-chromium oxide as a catalyst.

  The methanol produced by the methanol synthesis means 5 is separated from unreacted gas by the distillation means 9. The unreacted gas is circulated to the methanol synthesis means 5 through the compression means 8 and again subjected to the reaction.

  The methanol separated by the distillation means 9 is used as a final product for applications such as fuels and chemical raw materials. A part of the methanol is supplied to the extraction means 1 and used for replenishing methanol as an extraction solvent. In the present invention, if a predetermined amount of methanol as the extraction solvent is supplied at the start of system operation, the methanol recovered by the methanol recovery means 3 is repeatedly used thereafter. Therefore, methanol lost by adsorbing to plant biomass by the separation means 2 or lost by volatilization during the operation of the separation means 2 or the methanol recovery means 3 is obtained from the methanol obtained by the distillation means 9. The system can be operated effectively only by replenishment.

  The plant biomass utilization system of the present invention uses methanol as an extraction solvent to obtain useful substances such as essential oils and residual fats and oils that were conventionally discarded, and methanol required for extraction is contained in the system. The remaining synthetic methanol can be used as fuel or the like. It is an energy-saving and environmentally friendly system.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Extraction means 2 Separation means 3 Methanol recovery means 4 Gasification means 5 Methanol synthesis means 6 Cooling means 7 Gas purification means 8 Gas compression means 9 Distillation means 10 Grinding means

Claims (9)

Extraction means for extracting essential oils, fragrances, pigments or oils and fats from plant biomass pulverized into fine pieces by microwave heating using methanol as a solvent,
Separation means for separating the plant biomass after extraction and the extract;
Methanol recovery means for recovering methanol by distilling the separated extract;
Gasification means for pyrolyzing and gasifying the separated plant biomass;
Methanol synthesis means for synthesizing methanol from hydrogen and carbon monoxide obtained by gasification,
A plant biomass utilization system, wherein the methanol used in the extraction means is covered with methanol obtained by the methanol synthesis means.   The plant-based biomass utilization system according to claim 1, wherein the plant-based biomass is a plant-based biomass after squeezing raw or dried plant-based biomass or fats and oils.   The plant biomass utilization system according to claim 1 or 2, wherein in the extraction means, the extraction temperature is the boiling point of methanol.   The plant biomass utilization system according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein in the separation means, the separation means is a filtration device.   The utilization system of the plant biomass in any one of Claims 1-4 which uses the methanol collect | recovered by the said methanol collection | recovery means by the said extraction means.   The utilization system of the plant biomass in any one of Claims 1-5 which collect | recovers extracted essential oil, a fragrance | flavor, a pigment | dye, or fats and oils from the distillation residue of the said methanol collection | recovery means.   The plant biomass utilization system according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein oxygen or air and water vapor are used as gasifying agents in the gasification means.   The plant biomass utilization system according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein in the methanol synthesis means, a copper oxide-zinc oxide-alumina catalyst is used as a catalyst.   The plant biomass utilization system according to any one of claims 1 to 8, further comprising a gas purification unit and a gas compression unit before the methanol synthesis unit.

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